Paul Fishman joined Seton Hall University School of Law in 2017 as a Distinguished Visiting Fellow.
Prior to his joining the faculty of Seton Hall, Mr. Fishman served as the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey for seven and a half years. He was nominated for that position by President Barack Obama in June 2009; he was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate on October 7, 2009, and sworn in on October 14, 2009. He resigned as U.S. Attorney on March 10, 2017.
As U.S. Attorney, Mr. Fishman was responsible for overseeing all federal criminal investigations and prosecutions in New Jersey, including matters involving national security; political corruption; healthcare, securities, mortgage and corporate fraud; gang violence; narcotics distribution; civil rights; tax evasion; and environmental crimes. He also was responsible for all affirmative and defensive civil litigation in New Jersey in which the federal government had an interest. As U.S. Attorney, he supervised an office with approximately 150 attorneys and 125 support personnel in Newark, Camden, and Trenton with an annual budget of approximately $31 million.
In addition to his service as U.S. Attorney, he was appointed by Attorney Generals Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch as a member of the Committee of U.S. Attorneys (AGAC), and he served as Vice-Chair and Chair of that Committee. Created in 1973, the AGAC provides advice and counsel to the Attorney General on policy, management, and operational issues affecting the offices of the United States Attorneys and the Department of Justice across the country.
Mr. Fishman has spent much of his professional career in public service. After graduating from law school, he clerked for the Honorable Edward R. Becker of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He was an Assistant United States Attorney from 1983 to 1994; during that time, he served as Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division, Chief of Narcotics, Chief of the Criminal Division, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney. From 1994 to 1997, he was a senior adviser to Attorney General Janet Reno and Deputy Attorney General Jamie Gorelick.
In addition to his public service, Mr. Fishman was a partner in the law firm of Friedman Kaplan Seiler & Adelman, where he headed the firm’s white collar practice and handled complex civil litigation from 1998 to 2009.
He graduated magna cum laude in 1978 from Princeton University and cum laude in 1982 from Harvard Law School, where he was the Managing Editor of the Harvard Law Review. In 2011, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Law by Seton Hall University School of Law.